'Absolute gun': BBL freak goes berserk

by Andrew McMurtry

6th Jan 2020 10:40 AM

THE second game of the BBL double-header has seen one of the innings of the season with D'Arcy Short scoring the season's first century as the Hobart Hurricanes defeated the Perth Scorchers by 8 runs in Perth.

It was an absolute masterclass from Short, who soaked up a majority of his side's balls to claim his second BBL ton.

After being named as a replacement for Sean Abbott for the three-match ODI tour of India, Short had been looking for a big score to go with his two 50s in the BBL this season, and he found it in Perth.

The star who was drafted in for Australia's brief ODI tour of India, slammed his second BBL century, his second in the competition.

He paced the performance perfectly, bringing the milestone up off the final ball of the innings, with a ramp shot off Chris Jordan that went the distance.

It took him to 103 not out off 70 balls, pushing the Hobart Hurricanes to 2/180 off their 20 overs.

D'Arcy Short went big.

It was a brilliant performance from Short, joining Luke Wright, Usman Khawaja and Craig Simmons as the only players with multiple tons in the competition and goes on to show what an incredible batsman he had been in the tournament.

In just his fourth season in the BBL, Short is rampaging up the leading run scorers list, having scored 1655 runs at 47.28 in his forty matches in the league. He is fifth on the all-time list but rising quickly.

He is also the only batsman in the competition to have five scores of over 90, with the next best Chris Lynn on three.

The Scorchers had a disastrous start to the chase, losing three wickets in the first three overs.

Liam Livingstone won't want to watch the replay after he tried to ramp Riley Meredith thunderbolt, but he was joined by Cameron Bancroft, who nicked off for a three-ball duck, and Josh Inglis, who was caught backing up too far after Mitch Marsh hit the ball out of the middle straight back at the stumps.

It left the Scorchers 3/18 before Mitch Marsh and Cameron Green brought the home side back into the match.

Mitch Marsh almost stole the result from under Short's nose.

A 75-run stand ended with a LBW for Green, who showed why he is seen as a potential Australian all-rounder, while captain Marsh hit 48 off 36 balls to keep Perth alive.

But late regular wickets saw the Scorchers well short.

A cameo 33 not out of 14 balls from Jhye Richardson at the death made it tighter but it was a well earned victory for the Hurricanes, who lost Meredith to a side strain and David Miller to calf tightness.

Enjoyable knock from Darcy Short - brings up his century with a ramp shot for 6 off the last ball of the @HurricanesBBL innings. 103 not out with Hobart 2-180 (20 overs) Short’s 2nd BBL century. (He was dropped a few times... including when on just 21).